IPU, WHO Jointly Launch UHC Handbook

The new UHC handbook, a joint project of WHO and the IPU, can help guide you along the way, so it gives me great pleasure to launch it, said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros.

IPU, WHO Jointly Launch UHC Handbook

The 146th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, which was held in Manama, Bahrain, from March 11–15, 2023, featured a number of joint activities in which the World Health Organization (WHO) recently took part. In line with the 2019 IPU resolution on UHC, this collaborative work included the publication of the IPU-WHO Handbook on Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The handbook aims to familiarise lawmakers with the idea and significance of UHC and to outline the major roles that Members of Parliament (MPs) can play to advance the cause by providing useful and doable advice.

The new UHC handbook, a joint project of WHO and the IPU, can help guide you along the way, so it gives me great pleasure to launch it, said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros.

“It therefore gives me great pleasure to launch the new UHC handbook, a joint project of WHO and the IPU, which can help to guide you along the path towards universal health coverage, in accordance with the landmark 2019 IPU resolution,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros at the publication’s launch.

In his remarks to the plenary during the general debate on “Promoting peaceful coexistence and inclusive societies: Fighting intolerance,” Gaudenz Silberschmidt, the head of the WHO delegation, emphasised the importance of the long-standing partnership between WHO and IPU in raising parliamentary attention to health issues.

A side event on “UHC and Health Taxes” was held during the Assembly to increase public awareness of the need to further leverage parliamentarians’ roles in advancing UHC and how they can be strengthened at the national level.

On the occasion of the IPU Advisory Group on Health meeting, the WHO also presented a plan of collaboration with the IPU. The three focus areas of the collaboration—universal health coverage (UHC), global health security, and promoting health, particularly among vulnerable groups like women, children, and adolescents—are confirmed in the new work plan.

Additionally, it covers the Pandemic Accord and the role that legislators play in supporting sustainable financing for the WHO. Additionally, a workshop on sexual and reproductive health with a focus on comprehensive sexuality education was co-organised by WHO and the IPU (CSE). Parliamentarians from various countries shared their perspectives on CSE at this workshop.